*I don't own anything. All characters and creations are the property of the Company Type-Moon. *
*M for adult themes*
An Eternal King for the Throne of Heroes
By Try Another Time
Abigail returned to the area near the cube. Around her, several buildings were buried under several layers of snow. But her eyesight once more landed on that cube. The sinister aura around it reminded her of Yog-Sothoth and its power.
"Madness, chaos. Everything I left behind once again comes before me with a different shape. What are you and where do you come from?" Abigail thought as he looked at the structure. Many of the symbols were unknown to her even with her knowledge of beyond the existence "throne of heroes" and "Akasha."
Her companion, Yugo floated by her side. He notices how distracted she was, so he touched her face with his small stuffed arm.
"Yugo? I'm sorry I got distracted from our mission. I just want to know what is that thing and why does it exist in this world? It seems to contain something, but whatever it might be it can't be good, and I don't want it to be set free." Abigail explained.
The teddy bear understood what she was talking about. He was Abigail's companion and understood how she felt about anything that reminded her of Yog-Sothoth or beings of similar nature. But this was not the time to think about the past. The stuffed animal quickly opened his chest and allowed several small skeletal snakes to come out.
"You don't want to waste time? Ok. Let's see what we can find. Spread out and look for any irregularities in the area or signals of the enemy presence. If you find anything, fade away and I will know what you know." Abigail said to the little snakes around her.
In seconds, many skeletal snakes spread before going down all sides of the building. If there were people around to see it, this would surely have caused them to panic after seeing such a scene, but this was not the case. No one was left in the area anymore or at least in that city. This was a dead zone, and nothing would change that now.
With Sella and Tamamo.
Both were on the roof of the property looking around while making sure they could use this place as a base. Because Eero and Nero were melting all the snow around, within seconds they were able to notice every place within the property.
"The walls seem to be intact," Sella said.
"Strengthen them just as a precaution," Tamamo said.
That said, Sella expanded multiple threads in all directions until they covered each wall surrounding the property. Then the same threads expanded around to join each other, thus creating the basis of her "web."
"Ready," Sella said.
"Well, now it's my turn," Tamamo said before creating several talismans and throwing them at exact points on the property. "Barrier: Enclosed Lotus!" She said as several petals began to form around the property before joining together to enclose the property within them. Once the lotus finish, it became invisible.
"I'm amazed at your knowledge of magic. It makes me wonder how far back the magus of this century are." Sella said upon seeing how easily Tamamo had created a strong barrier.
"It's nothing. I'm still far from getting back to my maximum power. My beloved husband recommended that I practice everything I already knew and try to remember everything I've forgotten about my old life and status. But you'll see once I get back my other four tails, I'll be unstoppable." Tamamo admitted while laughing a little. "But you and Leysritt don't fall behind. That noble phantasm and power makes both of you rivals to be taken lightly."
Sella just nodded. "It is the power that was granted to us to protect Illya. We all need to be stronger if we want to be able to face any challenge in the future." Sella said before moving her hands and making several threads spread along the length of Tamamo's petals and the space within the property. "Art of the Frozen Infernal Spider: Dominion of Torment." Once all the threads were on, they were all under her and Leysritt protection.
"Seriously where the hell did those three gods found such power? I feel chills just knowing the name of the technique." Tamamo said as she felt a chill traversing her body.
"From a place, no mortal would want to visit for a second. By the way, I think Nero has taken the lead once again." Sella said while pointing to Nero kissing Eero and putting her hands around certain inappropriate places.
Tamamo just needs to see them for a second before she jumped. "Hypocrite!" Tamamo screamed.
Sella covered her mouth before laughing very disguisedly. But Tamamo's words made her remember again the night she and Leysritt ceased to be mere homunculus.
Flashback
Illya, Leysritt, and Sella had entered the lab that Eero used to investigate various things related to his work or personal matters such as the preparations necessary for the fifth holy grail war. Upon entering they could see various documents nailed to the walls, several shelves full of books, maps of Fuyuki among other things. The only ones in the whole house who spent time in this place were Eero, Kiritsugu and Mashu. Kiritsugu discussed with Eero the steps being taken and the various measures that needed to be taken in case something went wrong or changed concerning the original events of the war. Mashu came to this place to read and talk with Eero about legends and events of the past.
The young lady had perhaps developed a taste for the past thanks to her experiences during the various singularities influenced by Goetia.
In any other case, almost no one visited this place unless they wanted to get Eero out of this place to do something else.
"Come on," Eero said as he was waiting for them in front of an invocation circle.
Illya was a little scared to continue with this, but Sella and Leysritt were determined to do so. Already in front of the circle Illya noted the various symbols that had been written on the floor, possibly with Eero's blood.
She knew that the boy in front of her had spoken to her father about what it would entail preparing a certain ritual for the fifth war. Eero affirmed that time that no life except his would be used to ensure that the preparations were completed. Illya wondered how someone could put his life in such danger for a single purpose, but her doubts were always dispelled after remembering that she was neither normal nor any of the people in this place were. She was a homunculus and certainly, neither Sakura nor Miyu were normal as her friends at school. What they were doing wasn't normal, but it had a purpose, so it was necessary.
"Illya?" Eero asked.
"Huh, did I do something wrong?" Illya responded after being taken out of her thoughts.
"You didn't seem to be paying attention. Please don't get distracted." Eero said.
"I understand," Illya said a little embarrassed to be called out by someone who didn't look older than herself.
"Well, let's get started. Sella, Leysritt, enter the circle. Leysritt you can keep the halberd with you." Eero said.
Both looked at each other for a second before entering the circle.
"Well, Illya come to me," Eero said. Illya hesitated for a second, but she did as she was asked. Once he had her near, he grabbed her hand and did a small cut with a dagger. "This will affirm your connection to them as a master when the ritual is over," Eero explained as he let the drops of blood fall into the circle. After making sure it was enough blood, he wrapped the wound and set out to proceed to the next step. "You'd better get behind me."
Illya looked at him confused, but she didn't hesitate to do it.
"Sella, Leysritt here it begins. I don't know if it's going to hurt or how long it's going to last, but when this is over, you'll both be servants like the others. Forgive me if this is a painful process." Eero said before pulling a dark blue sphere out of his pocket which seemed to be freezing his hand at incredible speed. Without thinking twice Eero smashed the sphere against the area inside the circle.
The liquids spread and activated the invocation circle. The temperature began to drop to unexplained speed and a cold breeze began to emerge from within the invocation circle, which caused Eero to cover Illya with his coat.
Sella and Leysritt screamed only once before it was all completely silent. When Eero and Illya turned back and saw just a cocoon made of frozen threads.
"Sella, Leysritt?!" Illya screams after seeing that two of her loved ones were trapped inside that thing.
"Illya calm down. This is part of the process. They'll be fine." Eero explained.
"How can you say that if both are caught up in that thing?" Illya yells at him. But suddenly the young woman felt a burning sensation on her chest. "What the hell is happening to me?" Illya asked as she moved the garment that covered her chest aside. She was embarrassed, but this wasn't the time for that. As she watched her chest, she could see a single spider-shaped command seal position right in middle.
"Is done," Eero said before he felt his new seal forming on his own back. This was the first time he shared a servant's command with someone else. Right now, he was offering them 98% of the necessary mana for Sella and Leysritt to exist and work as servants in the world while Illya was only giving them 2%. It was something that shouldn't be possible, but nothing around Eero was. "Congratulations they are your first servants and seemed to count as one."
"This means they are all right?" Illya asked in a not very cheerful tone.
"They are, but I don't know if they'll take a long time to get out of it. We just have to wait." Eero said.
For the next 18 hours, that's what they did. Whereas inside that cocoon of threads Sella and Leysritt changed. Something that did not belong to any mortal world had been used as a basis to transform them into eternal servants. A creature that could only be found in a region of hell nicknamed the second "Helheim." For a common human or any mortal, playing with this would have meant death, for Eero and his group it had meant the acquisition of a new power needed for facing any enemy in the future.
Flashback Ends.
Sella was taken out of her thoughts by the small confrontation between Tamamo and Nero who pulled Eero back and forth as if he was a doll. The young man turned to her for help, but Sella didn't even feel sorry for him and just turned her back to him. "You don't need my help, you just have to give them what they want and then they will stop being so thirsty for your affection." Sella thought that most of the conflicts between the seven adult women around Eero were because he had refused to have sex right now and that they all wanted to be the first when the time came. She knew that it was already a complicated problem with only seven women, so she didn't want to imagine if Sakura, Miyu or even Abigail were the same age and had the same desires as the others.
Moments earlier with Eero and Nero.
They were both engulfed in flames as they danced brandishing their swords. The snow around them melted in seconds leaving the walls and gardens around the house visible. Once all the snow was melted Nero continued by making her sword disappeared and holding Eero's hands.
"How long has it been since we danced properly? " Nero asked.
"I would say not much. The last time was during that mission in Venice." Eero admitted while remembering how he had to use one of Tamamo talismans to make his body look like a stranger.
"That doesn't count. I wasn't dancing with the real one and that wasn't dancing." Said Nero.
"If that's what you meant. It's been a long time. I think it was a few days before our final battle against Archimedes and Velber. That night as Tamamo and Altera were asleep we went out to another place by ourselves, we asked the moon cell to create a copy of your theater in which musicians would play for us." Eero said while clearly remembering that night.
"As you took my hand and began to guide me." Continuous Nero.
"Your body next to mine. Every step taking us closer to each other."
"You next to me."
"Me next to you."
"Two lovers."
"Delighted in each other."
"Two souls burning by the fire of passion." That said, they both began replicating the dance that night. There was no music this time nor was it the same place or Hakuno was the same, but it was something they both remembered very well. Even if Eero's body was younger than Hakuno's at that time he could keep up and lead Nero like during that occasion.
*Just imagine both of then dancing Tango*-Author out.
Each step reminded him of how much Nero had asked him to practice when he was just Hakuno to learn how to dance this way. Especially since it was a dance for just the two of them, something Tamamo and Altera had not learned because it wasn't something that caught their attention. The dance continued for a few more moments while Nero increasingly brought her lips closer to Eero's until temptation was stronger than both. The kiss intensified as Nero began to move her hands to certain parts of her beloved's body.
"Whether with your original body or this one is still you, my beloved Praetor." Nero thought.
"Oh, damn it all to hell. What am I doing? I know where this is going. I screwed up again." Eero thought.
And as if fate was against him, Tamamo's voice stopped every action taking place at that moment. Eero should have known his luck wouldn't get any better.
With Mashu and Miyu.
They both entered the room that once belonged to the Kiritsugu of this world. When they opened the door they noticed how the dust had accumulated in this place. It seemed that no one had entered this room in centuries.
"Maybe you never came back in here after they ripped me out of your hands, Shirou." Miyu thought.
Entering this house reminded her of the time she spent with her brother. How gradually Shirou became more concerned about her and pulled her out of her shell. The first time she tried to cook for him. The first gift he brought for her. The day Kiritsugu died leaving them by themselves. That time he promised to take her to see the ocean.
"So many moments together and promises that with your death I didn't think they would be fulfilled." Miyu thought before remembering that fate had taken something away from her just to give her not only someone to protect her, but also a family to belong to.
"Miyu, are those the documents we're looking for?" Mashu asked as she pointed to boxes and books stacked in a corner.
"Yes," Miyu replied. "My brother read them from time to time. I never knew why he did, but now I think I have an idea. He was looking for the answer behind why the world was running out of time and a way that didn't include me to save it."
"... I'm sorry." Mashu said. It was sad to know that just as she was created to be used as one more tool, Miyu's circumstances were similar in this world.
"You don't have to apologize, Mashu. You're one of the people who's helped me the most since I found myself in that world. Not a single of you has asked me for anything for something in return or has sought to use my power for their own benefit." Miyu said.
"We wouldn't do it. No one should be used as a disposable object. That power you possess we will never use. It is better if we allow it to disappear over time so that it can never be used again. You know very well that you are part of this weird family and that we would never make you suffer." Mashu confidently said as she stared at her.
"I know. I don't doubt you." Miyu said before she kept walking towards the papers. "What do you think we are going to find in these documents?"
"Something that is different in the history of this world. In my world, the singularities of Goetia are based on key moments of human history being altered." Mashu explained.
"I know, you've told me about this before. Do you think it can be the same in this case?" Miyu asked.
"Maybe? But not the same as in my case. Nonetheless, if something is different it may be related to the cause behind all of this. There are moments in human history that are key for the world to continue. An example is the fall of the age of the gods. There may be a world in which that never happened, but in the case of our home, my original world and possibly yours it should have happened. We just have to find out where the story changes." Mashu said as she grabbed the first of the books.
"Could it have something to do with that cube?" Miyu asked again.
"The possibility is high. Whatever that thing is might be related to what's different in the history of this world." Mashu explained.
With this said, both began to read the books and documents that were in that room.
With the others.
"We're in trouble," Illya said.
"It's not so bad," Sakura said.
"Sakura this is not enough to survive two days. It's not enough for one person." Illya said as she pointed out the few things that had survived since someone was here.
Some spices, salt, a few pounds of rice and some cans of food that they weren't sure were edible.
Surely, Shirou hadn't thought about making any purchases during his battles against the servants fighting for the grail in this world.
"Canned Mapo Tofu? Who the hell eats Mapo Tofu?" Illya asked.
Sakura shook her head. Leysritt and Altera only looked at each other without any idea of what Mapo Tofu was.
"We should definitely look for supplies. Leysritt please look for Eero. I won't eat that crap, even if is for a few days." Illya said.
Perhaps her opinion on this plate of food would not be to the liking of a certain person, but who could blame her or Kiritsugu's taste in food. Both hate that spicy dish.
Leysritt without much hesitation went in search of Eero, although this did not last long as Nero and Tamamo's screams gave their exact location in seconds.
"Master Eero, can you stop playing? Miss Illya needs you." Leysritt said to see the situation in front of her.
"Give me 1 minute," Eero said.
"I'll go first! Fucking fox." Nero said.
"I will be the first, third-rated artist," Tamamo replied.
2-3 hours later.
Eero, Sella, Altera, and Leysritt walked in search of supplies through the remains of the city. They carried with them several fishes they had obtained after going to the docks and using Sella's threads to go through the ice and search in the water. It took them about thirty minutes to find them.
They appreciated that there were fish capable of surviving in these temperatures.
On the other hand, the search was tougher inside the city. The establishments were buried under the snow and although Eero was able to open a path for them, many things were not in the best condition. But none were ready to give up, so the search continues.
While the search continues, the others wait back on the property for their return and that of Abigail. But something would pay a visit before anyone could come back.
Tamamo was in the kitchen taking out the things they couldn't use when she felt something had entered her barrier without permission. Her instincts came into action. Something or someone had played their cards badly.
*Author's notes* How are you doing? Happy holidays and I know it has been a long time, but I have been busy with other things (university, work, etc.). Well, you can be happy until January 20 because I'll try to get a couple more chapters and we'll see later. By the way, send help, there's a religious man outside my door shouting while asking why I dared to speak ill of Mapo Tofu. Somebody help me!
Yorokobe Shounen!